Process for imparting an anti-felting finish to animal fibres

ABSTRACT

An anti-felting finish is imparted to animal fibres by means of synthetic resins, by applying aliphatic and/or cycloaliphatic diamines and/or polyamines in aqueous solution to the fibre and then a second aqueous solution is used to carry out an already known anti-felting treatment by impregnating the fibre with the solution of a possibly buffered salt of a polymer base which is deposited on the fibre during the subsequent action of heat.

United States Patent 11 1 Hefele Oct. 15, 1974 PROCESS FOR IMPARTING AN ANTI-FELTING FINISH TO ANIMAL [56] References Cited FIBRES UNITED STATES PATENTS n nt Josef Hefele, Grafelfing, Germany 3,357,785 12/1967 Garber et al 117/141 x [73] Assignee: Kufner Textilwerke K.G., Munich,

Germany Primary ExaminerWilliam D. Martin Assistant Examiner-Theodore G. Davis [22] Filed June 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Ladas Parry Von Gehr [21] Appl, No; 372,115 Goldsmith and Deschamps I Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 139,132, April 30, 1971, [57] ABSTRACT abandoned. An anti-felting finish is imparted to animal fibres by means of synthetic resins, by applying aliphatic and/or [30] Foreign Application Priority Data cycloaliphatic diamines and/or polyamines in aqueous May 14, 1970 Germany 2023671 Solution to the fibre and a Second aqufious solution is used to carry out an already known anti-felting 5 CL N 117/76 T, 117/1395 A, 117/141, treatment by impregnating the fibre with the solution 117/161 KP of a possibly bufiered salt of a polymer base which is [51] Int. Cl ,B44f 1/08 deposited on the fibre during the subsequem action of [58] Field of Search .7 117/141, 76 T, 139.5 CQ, heatll7/139.5 A, 161 KP, 55; 8/128, 127.6 B; 260/292 TN, 77.5 AM

6 Claims, No Drawings PROCESS FOR IMPARTING AN ANTI-FELTING FINISH TO ANIMAL FIBRES This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 139,132, filed Apr. 30, 1971, now abandoned.

FIELD OF. THE INVENTION This invention relates to a process for imparting an anti-felting finish to animal fibres, which is suitable more particularly for finishing fabrics in web form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Both the known treatment processes result in a hardening of the touch or feel, which is all the more pronounced, the higher the requirements in respect of the anti-felt finish. I

As an example, very high requirements are made in respect of the anti-felt finish for animal-fibre fixing interlinings, which usually consist of loose woven or knitted fabrics, for example woven fabrics comprising a fine wool warp and a resilient camel hair weft, which are coated with a fine network of spots of hot-seal adhesives and are fixed to the facings of garments. In such cases, oxidative treatment with peroxy-sulphuric acid, chlorine or chlorine-liberating compounds, such as dichloroisocyanurate, is not sufficient to obviate felting of the interlining and migration of the animal fibres through the facing. Although additional treatment with felting-inhibiting synthetic resins provides some improvement, it results in a further undesirable hardening of the touch or fee]. In addition, the synthetic resin finishing agents have to be absorbed mainly from organic solvents, and this necessitates appropriate mechanical equipment. Finally oxidative treatment of the finished woven or knitted article without any displacement of the warp or weft entails a considerable outlay in respect of machinery while unwoven or unknitted fibres render the weaving or knitting process difficult owing to embrittlement of the fibres.

The object of the invention therefore is to find a finishing process whereby webs of woven or knitted animal-fibre interlinings can be finished on conventional finishing plants and from an aqueous bath, with mini-. mum hardening of the touch or feel, so as reliably to prevent any felting or migration of the animal fibres during the wearing and conventional cleaning of the garments provided with the interlining fixed thereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According td-the invention, aliphatic or cycloaliphatic diamines or polyamines in aqueous solution are applied to the fibres and then a second aqueous solution is used for an already known anti-felting treatment by impregnating the fibres with the solution of a possibly buffered salt of a polymer base which is deposited on the fibres during the subsequent action of heat.

It is already known that good anti-felting effects can be obtained by the use of diamines dissolved in dimethyl formamide. The unexpected synergetic effect of a combined finish comprising an aqueous bath of diamines or polyamines and an aqueous bath of salts of the already known polymer bases has however not been observed heretobefore.

All water-soluble diamines and polyamines are suitable, for example ethylene diamine, hexamethylene diamine, dicyclohexyl diamine, diethylene triamine, dipropylene triamine, triethylene tetramine. Generally, as little as l to 10 mg of amine per gram of animal fibre (amine calculated as NH and NH group) is sufficient to give the required effect. The quantity of amine can be increased to about 20 mg of amine per gram of animal fibre.

Treatment of the fibre may be carried out, for example, on the yarn in an aqueous bath of the amine heated to about C, a treatment time of about 10 to 30 minutes being sufficient.

Another type of finish is possible by treating tops in a hot aqueous bath.

Preferably, however, the finishing process is carried out on the finished woven or knitted web material by means of a padding machine. After impregnation on the padding machine, the material is dried and condensed. The drying temperature should not exceed 160C. A temperature action of about 2 minutes is sufficient at C.

After this pretreatment with aqueous amine solution, the impregnation with the solution of a salt of a polymer base which is deposited in the form of the free base on the fibre with the application of heat, possibly with the addition of a buffer substance, is carried out in another operation. Already known as anti-felting agents, for example, are sulphonium halides which are linked to polyurethane radicals and which are particularly suitable for the proposed combined application with amines and which are therefore preferred. Other usable salts of polymer bases are appropriately selected watersoluble salts of polyamidoamines, whose free amino groups can react with organic or inorganic acids to form salts. A comparison of the anti-felting effect on fibres which have been treated with sulphonium halides alone, and the effect on fibres which have undergone an additional treatment with aqueous amine solution in the preceding operation shows that in the latter case half to one-third of the amount of halide is sufficient to give the same anti-felting effects, the touch or feel (handle) of the fabric, however, being much closer to that of the untreated fabric.

If required, methylol compounds, formaldehyde, formaldehyde liberating compounds such as urotropin, and other finishing agents based on aqueous solutions and dispersions, for example reactive (meth)-acrylate dispersions, polyethylene dispersions, urea resins, melamine resins and so on, may be added to the solutions of salts of polymer bases.

EXAMPLES The synergetic effect of the additional treatment with aqueous amine solution is apparent from the following examples:

EXAMPLE 1 3 piecesof a loose woven interlining consisting of a wool warp and a camel hair weft having a weight of 1 l0 gram per square metre were degreased on a conventional finishing machine, squeezed out and immediately finished, in the wet state, on a padding machine using an aqueous solution containing 0 gram, 20 gram and 40 g/l of hexamethylene diamine. The absorption of the The bath absorption was 100 gram per 100 gram of fabric. After drying, the material was condensed for 2 minutes at 140C. Ternary 6, 6/6, 12 copolyamide was then applied in spots, the application being 20 gram per square metre. A piece of each of the spot-coated fixing interlinings was fixed on a polyester facing. The fixing samples were washed three times at 30C with the addition of fine detergent in a domestic machine (Miele 706 Aps.). The following results were obtained after these three washing operations:

gll of amine Shrinkage l 7 Appearance 7 h Warp direction Weft direction of facing side 1 1.0 6.6 very wrinlcled 20 2.0 2.1 smooth 40 I .5 1.2 smooth Similar results occur in the case of dry-cleaning when the relative air humidity above the cleaning bath exceeds about 80 to 85 percent.

No difference in touch or fee] (handle) was found between the individual pieces of the above three samples, i.e., the additional amine treatment affects the touch or feel (handle) only insignificantly if at all.

EXAMPLE 2 Degrcased sheeps wool and camel hair yarns wound on cheeses were rinsed for 25 minutes with an aqueous solution of dipropylene triamine which had been heated to 95C and which contained 0 gram, 0.5 gram and 1.5 gram of dipropylene triamine per 100 gram of animal fibre. After this treatment, the cheeses were washed with cold water, centrifuged and dried at 120C. The identically treated sheep's wool and camel hair yarns were woven into three interlining fabrics of a weight of about 1 10 gram per metre and then padded with the solution of polyurethane sulphonium halide from Example 1 and treated further.

After the three fixing samples had been washed three times, the following results were observed:

Here again similar results were obtained on drycleaning when a relative humidity of more than to percent was established above the cleaning bath by the addition of cleaning intensifier and water.

Again there was no difference in touch or feel (handle) between the fabric untreated with amine and the amine-treated fabric.

The proposed combined treatment is not limited just to animal interlinings. In principle, any animal fibre for any purpose necessitating anti-feltingtreatment can be treated by the process.

I claim:

1. A process for imparting an antifelting finish to animal fibres which comprises a first step of applying to the fibers at least one compound selected from the group consisting of aliphatic and cycloaliphatic diamines and polyarnines from an aqueous solution thereof and a second step of applying an aqueous solution of a salt of a synthetic resin base to the resulting fibers and heating the fibers to condense the synthetic resin base from the applied solution onto the fibers said synthetic resin base salt being selected from the group consisting of polyurethane sulphonium halides and water-soluble polyamidoamine salts of organic or inorganic acids.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein the compound selected from the group consisting of aliphatic and cycloaliphatic diamines and polyarnines is at least one compound selected from the group consisting of ethylene diamine, hexamethylene diamine, diethylene triamine, dipropylene triamine, dicyclohexyl diamine and triethylene tetramine.

3. A process according to claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution of synthetic resin base salt has at least one other fibre finishing agent dissolved or dispersed therein.

4. A process according to claim 1 wherein the amount of the compound selected from the group consisting of aliphatic and cycloaliphatic diamines and polyamines applied to the fibre is from 0.1 to 1 percent, calculated as NH or NH by weight of the fibre.

5. A process according to claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution of the synthetic resin base salt is buffered.

6. A process according to claim l-for imparting an anti-felting finish to animal fibres selected from the group consisting of wool and camel hair, which comprises a first step of applying to the fibres at least one compound selected from the group consisting of hexamethylenediamine and dipropylene triamine from an aqueous solution thereof, and a second step of applying an aqueous solution of polyurethane sulphonium halide to the resulting fibres and heating the fibres to condense the free base polymer from the applied solution onto the fibres. 

1. A PROCESS FOR IMPARTING AN ANTIFELTING THE FINISH TO ANIMAL FIBRES WHICH COMPRISES A FIRST STEP OF APPLYING TO THE FIBERS AT LEAST ONE COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ALIPHATIC AND CYCLOALIPHATIC DIAMINES AND POLYAMINES FROM AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION THEREOF AND A SCEOND STEP OF APPLYING AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF A SALT OF A SYNTHETIC RESIN BASE TO THE RESULTING FIBERS AND HEATING THE FIBERS TO CONDENSE THE SYNTHETIC RESIN BASE FROM THE APPLIED SOLUTION ONTO THE FIBERS SAID SYNTHETIC RESIN BASE SALT BEING SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF POLYURETHANE SULPHONIUM HALIDES AND WATER-SOLUBLE POLYAMIDOAMINE SALTS OF ORGANIC OR INORGANIC ACIDS.
 2. A process according to claim 1 wherein the compound selected from the group consisting of aliphatic and cycloaliphatic diamines and polyamines is at least one compound selected from the group consisting of ethylene diamine, hexamethylene diamine, diethylene triamine, dipropylene triamine, dicyclohexyl diamine and triethylene tetramine.
 3. A process according to claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution of synthetic resin base salt has at least one other fibre finishing agent dissolved or dispersed therein.
 4. A process according to claim 1 wherEin the amount of the compound selected from the group consisting of aliphatic and cycloaliphatic diamines and polyamines applied to the fibre is from 0.1 to 1 percent, calculated as NH or NH2, by weight of the fibre.
 5. A process according to claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution of the synthetic resin base salt is buffered.
 6. A process according to claim 1 for imparting an anti-felting finish to animal fibres selected from the group consisting of wool and camel hair, which comprises a first step of applying to the fibres at least one compound selected from the group consisting of hexamethylene diamine and dipropylene triamine from an aqueous solution thereof, and a second step of applying an aqueous solution of polyurethane sulphonium halide to the resulting fibres and heating the fibres to condense the free base polymer from the applied solution onto the fibres. 